The Festival of Flight in Newcastle is set to expand for 2018 after the councils Enterprise, Regeneration & Tourism committee recommended an increase in the events budget.

The air display element of the hugely popular festival is set to be spread over two days, on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12 August next year.

The additional money set to be allocated to the festival is £63000. It would mean an increase in the festivals budget from £77,000 to £140,000.

The Festival is one of a number of local events that have been earmarked for additional funding as the ERT committee has recommended an increase in the council’s events programme budget.

The 2017/18 budget was just over one million pounds, an investment that returned over £11m of economic impact on the Newry, Mourne & Down district.

By adding an additional £272,000 to the budget for the next financial year it is hoped an even greater return on the investment will be seen.

In most cases the events set to benefit from the additional spend are council organised.

(Admin note – The budget quoted is only from the council and does not take into consideration other additional sponsorship. The article expands to talk about other events in the NMD district in 2018 however I have kept it to only the Festival of Flight on this post)

There is a date in place, however it is a provisional date. I do expect this date to be confirmed in early 2018. I am reluctant to post the date for 2 reasons

1) Down Festivals have not confirmed the date and it is their show.

2) It is a provisional date and I don’t want to give out a date and people book hotels etc only for a change to be made.

I will post the date as soon as I know I am able to. This will come either when an official source such as Visit Mourne Mountains or Down Festivals release the date or when RAF displays confirm their appearance.

As for 2018, I have heard some chatter. Some very good things seemingly in place for the RAF centenary next year which it seems Newcastle will be a part of 🙂 The RAF have said in a press release about Newcastle, Northern Ireland being one of 6 ‘Major UK locations’ in 2018 But more about that closer to the event.

The below logo is NOT an official 2018 logo. It was just me messing around in photo-shop and it has been altered from the original 2017 logo.

But I will post news as soon as I know I am able to. 4 years ago I would be posting the date right away, however the last 4 years of running this page and talking to the council have made me appreciate just how much work goes into the planning and just how much can change before going to ‘press’

Stay tuned. 2018 does look like a great year for airshows both in Newcastle and on the North Coast in Portrush.